GOFF IS ON

Big fantasy week in store for Lions QB

IT DIDN’T look like it at first, but perhaps the Rams got it right when they picked Jared Goff over Carson Wentz in the 2016 draft — Goff leading the best Lions team we’ve seen in decades and Wentz out of the league until being signed for depth by the Rams in the past week.

It didn’t look like it at first, but maybe the Lions won the 2021 Goff-Matthew Stafford trade — Goff looking brand new since the deal and Stafford becoming paper mache since winning Super Bowl LVI his first season in L.A.

It didn’t look like it at first, but maybe those fantasy managers who drafted Goff late, or picked him up off the waiver wire, got it right, rather than those who spent earlier picks on Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow, Justin Fields or Deshaun Watson.

However you might have stumbled upon the access to Goff, this is a good week to have him.

First, we tend to like anyone playing the Chargers, because they historically tend to play to the level of their opponent. Since the Lions are pretty good, and are capable of scoring a lot, we tend to think the Chargers will mostly keep up. That means the Lions don’t get to back off, and Goff keeps throwing. That helps the volume side of the equation. What helps the efficiency is the defense Goff will be throwing against. The Chargers are the second-most generous against opposing fantasy quarterbacks, giving up 4.7 fantasy points more per week than the league average.

That looks like a pretty good matchup, until you realize it is probably even better than that. As poor as the Chargers have been vs. QBs, they have played three games against some of the worst in the league — yielding single-point outings to the Raiders’ Aidan O’Connell, Bears’ Tyson Bagent and Jets’ Zach Wilson.

In the other five games, they have surrendered an average of 26.5 per game to quarterbacks — which is 11 points more than the league average. And we would argue Goff is a markedly better QB than any of the aforementioned Three Stunkateers. Then we have the fresh factor. The Lions are coming off a bye, the Chargers off an East Coast game on Monday night. Detroit will have a healthy RB David Montgomery

for the first time in weeks. He will be paired with rookie Jahmyr Gibbs, who enjoyed a breakout with Montgomery sidelined. Amon-Ra St. Brown should be at full strength for the first time in weeks, after an abdominal injury then an illness ahead of the bye. It is possible they get to debut new tradedeadline WR addition Donovan Peoples-Jones, who is dealing with a rib problem.

It very much feels like a feelgood game for the Lions. We expect plenty of points, and for many of those points to be delivered by Goff. We’re playing him ahead Lawrence,

Dak Prescott,

Brock Purdy, and the like.

dloftis@ nypost. com